


Be Brave.

by loisselina (LoisSelina)



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Drabble, Episode: s02e03 Lady of the Lake, F/M, Minor Character Death, Ruth Charming, Wordcount: 100-500, a letter, based on Princess Diaries, ruth's death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 20:00:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16047521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoisSelina/pseuds/loisselina
Summary: After his mother's death David finds a letter she wrote for him.Based on Princess Diaries when Mia finds her father's letter.





	Be Brave.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [justanoutlaw](https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanoutlaw/gifts).



David finally crawled out of the tent he and his new wife had set up, having consummated their marriage (only officially consummated, they had had sex before... a fair few times) ... he was just glad that Lancelot hadn't camped nearby... though he had a suspicion that the distance hadn't really done much to help....

Despite all of the jubilation, and exhaustion, of the day he could not sleep.

His mother had died.

For so long it had only been the two of them. Him and her. She had taught him everything he knew, how to be a brave and loyal man, but how to be caring and kind too. She gave him an the perfect model of a parent. How was he meant to carry on without her around? He was sure to screw everything up, despite his and his wife's optimistic words earlier.

He climbed out of the tent and was sorting out his clothes which had been torn off earlier.

Then he found the letter.

The penmanship was clearly his mother's, the one which had been on the slate board she had taught him to read on, the same which left him notes as he was older, notes to get him to smile before going out to work early in the morning.

He tore open the letter, hoping that it would reveal that it had all been a prank, that it was a scheme to finally get him to get married. But he could tell immediately that it was not.

He read the letter through carefully. It was clear that she had written it while they were searching for the lake as her writing trailed off at the end.

She asked his forgiveness for tricking him and Snow, but that she was a mother, and she was putting her child first, giving him his best chance, as she always did.

Tears ran down his face and he had to quickly move the scroll as not to wipe away her last words forever.

Some words really struck him, especially when he was feeling so scared.   
' _The brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all_."

He looked up just as the sun rose through the woods and he was filled with a new sense of optimism, this time it felt like it was there to stay.

He would be brave: for his mother, for his new wife, and for his future child who would be born from his mother's sacrifice, and who David would always give the best chance.


End file.
